Everyone Else
by Chelsi V
Summary: James Potter and Lily Evans are falling for each other. Everyone else sees it, but do they?
1. Hogwarts Express

**A/N: This is something that has been dancing in my head for quite some time. This is my first try at fanfic so don't be too mean but read it, review it, you know the drill. **

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Lily Evans was not looking forward to her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If her mother had not packed her trunk for her she would still be sitting in her yellow bedroom staring at the ceiling. She wanted to be there for her mum and mourn her father but that wasn't happening. Instead, Lily was sitting in the prefects car on the Hogwarts Express only half-listening to Frank Longbottom tell them about their upcoming school year.

The reason Lily did not want to leave home this year was because her father was killed while driving home from work. He was a secondary English teacher. He rarely drove to school, even in the winter, but that day had been different.

"_Well Lily flower I am off to work," Richard Evans said, while kissing his youngest daughter on top of her head. She had just returned home from school the night before and today was Richards last day of the term. They were both looking forward to quality time that summer brought them._

"_Have a great day daddy!" Lily replied. She hated being up this early but the one perk was getting to sit in the kitchen and have coffee with her father. She considered her father one of the most intelligent men she'd ever met, right up there with Professor Dumbledore, and strived to be like him. She had his thick red hair, his now snowy white, and green eyes. _

"_You're driving?" Lily asked the surprise evident in her voice._

"_Well Lils I'm just not the man I used to be," Richard answered. "Walking or riding my bike is exhausting. I suppose I should start considering retirement." Richard sighed as he walked out the door._

_After her father left Lily sat thinking about what he said. It was true, her parents weren't young. They had been in their mid-forties when she was born. She imagined what her parents' lives would be like if they were to retire. They were always so active she just couldn't imagine them sitting around in rocking chairs. Lily returned to her room and drifted off to sleep, visions of her parents floating in her mind._

_Later that day Lily lay in her room returning a letter to her friend Alice about Frank Longbottom. Frank had asked Alice out on the final Hogsmeade weekend and they had finally made their relationship official. Alice's excitement was rubbing off on Lily and she found herself wishing she had someone to go with on Hogsmeade weekends. As she sifted through her large group of admirers, Benjy Fenwick, Michael McDonald and Andrew Davies, to name a few, her thoughts settled on one in particular. James Potter. She knew James had been after her for a long time but she tried to play it off as if she had no interest. She did however. She definitely didn't want to but she did. _

_Just as she was slipping into a fantasy which involved Potter and a trip to Hogsmeade there was a knock on her bedroom door. _

"_Lily," her mum said timidly. "Lils we need to talk." And just like that, Lily Evans' world came to a grinding halt._

Now, two months later, Lily was sitting on the train staring into space as the prefects around her moved off to other compartments to find their friends.

"Lils," she heard someone say. "Lily?"

"No you have to do this, LILY EVANS!" Alice yelled.

"Huh?" Lily turned to her friend, all of a sudden fully aware of the three sets of eyes on her.

"Lily, I volunteered for us to do prefect duty first," Remus Lupin said almost apologetically.

Remus was her fellow Gryffindor prefect. Lily thought he was a really good guy. He was very smart and well mannered, unlike his fellow "Marauders".

"Oh okay," Lily answered after a brief pause. "Let's get going then."

Prefect duty would be the perfect chance for her to find her other friends and get her mind off of her father. She was on the train now, there was no turning back.

JLJLJLJLJLJLJLJL

Farther down the train James Potter was finding himself jealous of Moony for the first time in his life. Being a 16-year-old werewolf wasn't exactly the greatest life, James had to admit, but anyone who had close contact with Lily Evans was definitely someone to envy in his eyes. He had been crazy about Lily since third year when she was his potions partner for a short time. He fell for her instantly thanks to her clever words and extreme talent in potions. He knew she was one of the top in their year but he had never realized just how smart she was.

From that moment on he had vowed to make her his, one day. He tried showing off to no avail. He would continuously be in detention thanks to his escapades while trying to prove that he was a worthy candidate for a date. He had even tried blackmail, which at the time he did not see it as that, but it clearly was. At the end of last term he had her so called friend suspended in midair when he asked her for a date. He was willing to let Snivellus go if she would only go out with him but she had made it clear that she really wasn't interested.

Now, nearly three months later he understood what she meant. He really was arrogant. He thought she had to have been crazy to not see how great of a "catch" he was.

After returning home to his parents he started to realize just how wrong he was. He was a bully. You can't fall in love with someone that bullies others. When he saw his parents it all made sense. They were still crazy about each other after all these years. They had been great aurors, great wizards, but now they were both older. Although they were both members of the Order of the Phoenix, his father wasn't exactly active in the group. Sure he gave them pointers, he kept up with the paper but his health was declining so rapidly that he rarely left his room over the summer. Even though he could see the end of his life on the horizon he still loved every second that he had. He never stopped telling his wife how beautiful she was or James just how proud he was.

This made James realize that it was Lily who was the great catch. He was just a jerk. No one else thought that of course. Everyone else thought he was still the same old James Potter. There were still girls asking if he'd like to sit in their compartments later or if they could get him anything off the trolley. He wanted them to go away. Everyone else was not Lily Evans and unless it was Lily, he wasn't interested.


	2. It Started with a Hug

James sat in an empty classroom mindlessly flicking his wand. Colorful lights lit up the room but quickly died out. He was paying very little attention to the magic he was performing. Earlier that evening, during dinner, he had received a letter from home.

_James,_

_Your father is not doing well. Dumbledore is going to allow you to floo home Friday night for a visit. I'm really sorry you have to find out this way. Just know that we love you. _

_Love,_

_Mum_

_P.S. If Sirius would like to come he is also allowed._

Sirius had quickly agreed to go with him and although the Marauders were quick to offer sympathy, help and anything else he could need all that he really wanted was to be alone. While everyone else had been in the common room talking and studying he had grabbed the invisibility cloak and slipped out. Now here he was in the Transfigurations classroom, his favorite. James didn't hear the door open so he was unaware of another person in the room until they spoke his name.

"Potter," Lily started. "You really shouldn't be here right now you-"She stopped quickly when she saw the tears in his eyes.

"Sorry Lily, I'm just," James didn't know he had been crying. He quickly tried to wipe the tears away before looking back up into her brilliant green eyes.

"Pott-James are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," he replied. "Perfectly perfect." HA! He thought. I'm so far from perfect it's not even funny. As Lily walked closer to him he found himself wondering what it would be like to touch her hair, to run his fingers through it. It looked so soft. He tried giving her the signature Potter grin but she seemed to see right through him.

"Okay Potter but what is it really," she asked.

"I got a letter from my mum today," he started, finding himself very at ease with her. "My dad's health is declining. He doesn't really have much longer. The funny thing is, most Auror's kids would be happy to say their parents lived long happy lives and died of natural causes instead of at the hands of a dark wizard but I just feel like I didn't have enough time with him."

"He's taught me so many things, I just don't know what I'll do without him," James said, the tears starting again. Way to go Potter, James thought to himself. Now she's going to think you are an arrogant crybaby. He was even more upset that he'd divulged so much. She didn't need his problems.

"Oh James," Lily said. "I'm so sorry. I lost my father over the summer and it was horrible."

The next thing he knew she was hugging him. HER! As in Lilly Evans, the girl of his dreams. The one he'd wanted to hold for three years. She was hugging herself to his chest and he was sitting there like a moron in complete shock by her actions. She mistook his shock for displeasure and began to pull away from him.

"I, I'm sorry James. I didn't mean-"

Before she could finish her thought he pulled her back to him, holding her tight. If he couldn't have her as his girlfriend he would definitely take her as his friend.

They sat for a long time in silence, holding one another and crying quietly. Finally James spoke in a slightly shaky voice.

"Lily? I was wondering," he began. "Well since we seem to be comfortable enough to sit and hug each other in silence, well, I was just wondering if we-"

JLJLJLJLJLJLJLJL

Oh no, thought Lily. I gave him the total wrong impression! He is about to ask me out again! And I'm going to have to turn him down again! And right after he's told me about his dad. The thoughts were racing so quickly through Lily's mind she almost missed the actual question.

"I was just wondering if we could, maybe, be friends?"

"What?" Lily asked, shocked. She was quite surprised that his arrogance didn't encourage him to ask her out again.

"We don't have to be if you don't want," he answered quickly.

"No, no, I think that would be perfectly perfect," Lily said before her brain could say no.

Less than 10 minutes later they were standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. Thanks to James' short cuts and invisibility cloak, that she had had no idea about, they had made it rather quickly. Lily found she was not quite ready to say good night to James Potter but at the same time was not sure what to say to get him to stay.

"Good night Lily," James said.

"Good night friend," replied Lily with a small wave before heading up the stair to her dormitory.

The moment she stepped foot inside her room her roommates bombarded her with questions.

"Was that James Potter's voice we heard?"

"Where have you been?"

"Are you okay?"

"Did he make you cry?"

"Can everyone please calm down and be quiet?" was Lily's only reply.

"So…?" asked Dorcas Meadowes.

So Lily began telling her friends the story. They giggled and gossiped well into the night before Alice said, "Well Lily, it's true, you both have got it bad for each other."

As Lily quickly denied the statement the girls dissolved into giggles while they returned to their beds and as Lily drifted off to sleep she wondered if James was dealing with the same inquiries.

He was.


End file.
